What Does Exodus 19:14 Mean?

Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. The community "brought out to meet God" is the covenant assembly's most significant spatial movement: they leave their camp, cross the boundary area, and stand "at the foot of the mountain" where YHWH's theophany is occurring above them. The standing (vayityazvu, they stationed themselves, the same word as "stand firm" in Exodus 14:13) is the commanded stance of the Sinai covenant formation: Israel stands at the mountain's foot while YHWH descends on the mountain's crest.

"To meet God" (liqrat ha'elohim, to encounter/meet God): the covenant encounter is expressed as a meeting between YHWH and Israel, mediated through Moses. The same "meet" verb governs the tabernacle's name: the "tent of meeting" (ohel mo'ed, tent of appointment/encounter) is where YHWH meets Israel after the mountain meeting is over. The standing at Sinai's foot is the prototype of all subsequent Israel-YHWH meeting: at the tabernacle, at the temple, in prayer, in worship. Every covenant encounter between YHWH and Israel traces back to the fundamental standing-at-the-foot-of-the-mountain structure of Sinai.

The "foot of the mountain" (tachat ha'har, under the mountain) is the spatial theology of the Sinai covenant: the covenant community stands under YHWH's holy mountain. Rabbinic tradition developed this "under the mountain" phrase into the midrash that YHWH held the mountain over Israel's heads as a threat when they received the Torah. Whether or not this reading is intended, the spatial image of a community standing under the overpowering presence of YHWH's descending glory is the Sinai covenant's visual theology: Israel is beneath, YHWH is above, and the gap between them is crossed only by Moses' ascent and YHWH's condescending approach.